Vintage threads from the first ten years

Electar 30 -> Wreck Express conversion board

Electar 30 -> Wreck Express conversion board Here is my first attempt at making up my own eyelet board for this conversion project. The board material is called "fishpaper" and the eyelets were set using an unpowered 8" drill press and the Mouser staking kit.

Although this circuit does use a cathodyne driver the board design could be easily modified for a long tailed pair. Alas, I figured out a much better way to wire up the 3rd stage so this board will go in my junk box... (The 10k Rk will go next to the RK/Ck's for the first two stages and will tie in nicely with the .002uF/150k RC network between the second and third stages. I can also make the board a little bit longer so that one 100/350uF filter cap doesn't have to sit over the rectifiers...) I guess that is why we call them prototypes!

The top panel has five controls, 3 jacks, a power switch and a small square opening for the terrible boost switch. You could use the line-out or footswitch jacks for additional controls, or drill another hole (heaven forbidó hacking up a vintage '99 Electar 30!)

As for the speaker, my opinion on practically any inexpensive modern combo amp is that they work better with an ext cab... just figure that you are buying a head with a built-in speaker for practicing at lower volumes. (The thin sheet metal on all of these cheap amps can vibrate and rattle a lot when you crank them up compared to the thick gauge metal used on a "real" combo amp like the BF and SF Fenders.)